Job 15; Job 16; Job 17; Job 18; Job 19

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:2"Would a wise man answer with empty notions or fill his belly with the hot east wind?3Would he argue with useless words, with speeches that have no value?4But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God.5Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty.6Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you.7"Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills?8Do you listen in on God's council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself ?9What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have?10The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father.11Are God's consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you?12Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash,13so that you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth?14"What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?15If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,16how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks up evil like water!17"Listen to me and I will explain to you; let me tell you what I have seen,18what wise men have declared, hiding nothing received from their fathers19(to whom alone the land was given when no alien passed among them):20All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless through all the years stored up for him.21Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him.22He despairs of escaping the darkness; he is marked for the sword.23He wanders about--food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.24Distress and anguish fill him with terror; they overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,25because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty,26defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield.27"Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh,28he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble.29He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land.30He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God's mouth will carry him away.31Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return.32Before his time he will be paid in full, and his branches will not flourish.33He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.34For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.35They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit."

1Then Job replied:2"I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all!3Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing?4I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you.5But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.6"Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away.7Surely, O God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household.8You have bound me--and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.9God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.10Men open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me.11God has turned me over to evil men and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.12All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target;13his archers surround me. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground.14Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior.15"I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust.16My face is red with weeping, deep shadows ring my eyes;17yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure.18"O earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest!19Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high.20My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God;21on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend.22"Only a few years will pass before I go on the journey of no return.

1My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me.2Surely mockers surround me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility.3"Give me, O God, the pledge you demand. Who else will put up security for me?4You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore you will not let them triumph.5If a man denounces his friends for reward, the eyes of his children will fail.6"God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit.7My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow.8Upright men are appalled at this; the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.9Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will grow stronger.10"But come on, all of you, try again! I will not find a wise man among you.11My days have passed, my plans are shattered, and so are the desires of my heart.12These men turn night into day; in the face of darkness they say, 'Light is near.'13If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in darkness,14if I say to corruption, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'My mother' or 'My sister,'15where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?16Will it go down to the gates of death ? Will we descend together into the dust?"

1Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:2"When will you end these speeches? Be sensible, and then we can talk.3Why are we regarded as cattle and considered stupid in your sight?4You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger, is the earth to be abandoned for your sake? Or must the rocks be moved from their place?5"The lamp of the wicked is snuffed out; the flame of his fire stops burning.6The light in his tent becomes dark; the lamp beside him goes out.7The vigor of his step is weakened; his own schemes throw him down.8His feet thrust him into a net and he wanders into its mesh.9A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare holds him fast.10A noose is hidden for him on the ground; a trap lies in his path.11Terrors startle him on every side and dog his every step.12Calamity is hungry for him; disaster is ready for him when he falls.13It eats away parts of his skin; death's firstborn devours his limbs.14He is torn from the security of his tent and marched off to the king of terrors.15Fire resides in his tent; burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.16His roots dry up below and his branches wither above.17The memory of him perishes from the earth; he has no name in the land.18He is driven from light into darkness and is banished from the world.19He has no offspring or descendants among his people, no survivor where once he lived.20Men of the west are appalled at his fate; men of the east are seized with horror.21Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man; such is the place of one who knows not God."

1Then Job replied:2"How long will you torment me and crush me with words?3Ten times now you have reproached me; shamelessly you attack me.4If it is true that I have gone astray, my error remains my concern alone.5If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my humiliation against me,6then know that God has wronged me and drawn his net around me.7"Though I cry, 'I've been wronged!' I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.8He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; he has shrouded my paths in darkness.9He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.10He tears me down on every side till I am gone; he uproots my hope like a tree.11His anger burns against me; he counts me among his enemies.12His troops advance in force; they build a siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent.13"He has alienated my brothers from me; my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.14My kinsmen have gone away; my friends have forgotten me.15My guests and my maidservants count me a stranger; they look upon me as an alien.16I summon my servant, but he does not answer, though I beg him with my own mouth.17My breath is offensive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own brothers.18Even the little boys scorn me; when I appear, they ridicule me.19All my intimate friends detest me; those I love have turned against me.20I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth.21"Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.22Why do you pursue me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?23"Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll,24that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!25I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.26And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;27I myself will see him with my own eyes--I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!28"If you say, 'How we will hound him, since the root of the trouble lies in him, '29you should fear the sword yourselves; for wrath will bring punishment by the sword, and then you will know that there is judgment. "